As poll officials continue to administer early voting and prepare for Tuesday’s election, New Mexico Senate Bill 43 will offer workers protection against intimidation. Passed in 2023 and titled Intimidation of Election Officials, the bill makes all forms of intimidation against election officials a fourth-degree felony.
Intimidation of an election official is classified as aggression, threats or coercion that is used to change voting results. The bill specifically protects employees and agents of the Secretary of State, county clerks’ offices, and municipal clerks’ offices, or the officials themselves.
Conviction of a fourth-degree felony in New Mexico can lead to an 18-month prison sentence as well as a fine of up to $5,000.
Although intimidation of election officials can manifest in many ways, the most common is through phone calls, according to Richard Mason, an action co-chair for the League of Women Voters in New Mexico. He said election workers are on high alert.
“Many election officials are now terrified, even just poll workers and volunteer poll workers. Never mind the secretary of state and others who are getting phone calls on a regular basis,” Mason said.
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver is in large part responsible for this bill being passed, as she faced numerous threats during the 2020 election.
New Mexico voting sites have also faced an onslaught of intimidation through threats of firearms. Though voters themselves are generally the center of concern in terms of intimidation, election workers have received an influx of threats since the 2020 election, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Katy Duhigg, a Democrat from the 10th district, introduced the bill during the 2023 legislative session. During the session, she said, “Since the 2020 election, there has been a sharp uptick in threats of violence against election workers. This bill will address that issue here in New Mexico.”
The bill passed the House unanimously, with Rep. Rodney Montoya, a Republican from the 1st district, serving as the single vote against it. Montoya’s main reasoning was that a fourth-degree felony charge was too harsh of a punishment.
Mason of the League of Women Voters feels differently. He said the bill serves as both protection and a testament to the integrity of the state’s democracy.
“I think protection of our election process is key to an operative democracy,” Mason said.
Volunteer election and poll workers are also guaranteed protection under this bill.
Simon Ruybalid, a graduate student at the University of New Mexico, has been an election volunteer for two years now.
Ruybalid started volunteer work as an elections clerk, handling voter registration, supervised the voting process and reported back to the election’s administrator. For the 2024 election, Ruybalid began work as an elections poll judge, who holds the responsibility of supervising voters when feeding ballots into the scan machine.
Though New Mexico has a historic track record of voting for democratic candidates, Ruybalid feels a new sense of pressure during this election season. Though Ruybalid has not experienced intimidation firsthand, they are prepared for any situation.
“I’ve worked in fairly non-controversial elections up to this point,” they said. “I can see a lot of the conversations circulating online, and it’s frightening to a certain degree to be in this position.”
Volunteers are legally required to participate in a mandatory training prior to beginning work at the polls. The training includes guidelines regarding specific job levels and information on who to report to should they face any form of intimidation.
Ruybalid said their cohort was instructed to address any issues with the presiding election judge, who would then report the information to the proper authorities. In an effort to maintain the safety of the poll workers, staff are not allowed to leave the premises alone without specific permission from the judge.
“Unless you are specifically told to by the presiding judge, you’re not allowed to leave a poll location as a poll worker once you start working, unless you are leaving that location with every other poll worker,” Ruybalid said.
Despite the high status of this election, Ruybalid does not regret the decision to participate in the election process as a volunteer worker because they believe it is important that everyone vote.
